For many people, Thanksgiving dinner is not complete without a turkey on the table. But with diet trends turning toward vegetarianism, veganism and flexitarianism , people are starting to break away from the traditional turkey dinner for health, animal welfare or environmental reasons. Luckily, there are amazing plant-based dishes that you can prepare for a mouth-watering Thanksgiving feast, making it easier than ever to skip the turkey. Here are some ideas for main dishes that will replace the turkey on your table, plus some side dish and dessert ideas that will keep the food at your celebration completely plant-based. Main dishes Classic seitan roast Forget the tofurkey — try this basic meat substitute for a savory, meaty main dish that you can use for Thanksgiving day, and any extras will be perfect as salad toppers or sandwich fillings. This recipe comes from One Green Planet , and it does have an involved process. But the results are totally worth it. Seitan pot roast Another idea from One Green Planet , this recipe is not the traditional pot roast your mom would make, but it is the perfect recipe for a large Thanksgiving dinner. The biggest plus about this dish is that you make it in a slow cooker. Just throw everything in the pot, and let it cook while you make your other dishes. Related: 6 vegan and vegetarian turkey alternatives for Thanksgiving Lentil shepherd’s pie This recipe from Plant Based Cooking is perfect for picky eaters, vegan or not. Lentil shepherd’s pie is loaded with mushrooms, carrots, peas and garlic mashed potatoes, and you can easily refrigerate or freeze it. Vegan lentil loaf with gravy Perfect for the holiday season, this recipe from Vegan Heaven is easy to make, super healthy and beyond delicious. You will impress your family with this main dish, which takes a little over an hour to make and bake. Vegducken This is a vegetable main dish that will have your family and friends talking long after Thanksgiving is over. This recipe features roasted butternut squash stuffed with eggplant, zucchini and whole scallions. Then, you layer it with a puree of sautéed mushrooms, red onion, chickpeas, scallions, red lentils and gluten-free breadcrumbs. Side dishes Thanksgiving cornbread stuffing with gravy You might be able to skip turkey at Thanksgiving, but no one can live without the stuffing. This delicious vegan recipe from One Green Planet takes a little time to make, so you might want to prepare it a day in advance. Vegan pumpkin biscuits Free of dairy , egg, corn, soy and yeast, these pumpkin biscuits from Vegan Richa are easy to make and perfect for any guest at your Thanksgiving dinner. They feature fresh sage and thyme, and they are a savory side dish that is crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. Buttermilk vegan mashed potatoes Who says you need dairy products to make fluffy, creamy mashed potatoes? This recipe from The Vegan 8 calls for just eight ingredients to make creamy mashed potatoes that are full of flavor with a buttery taste that comes from apple cider vinegar. They will be one of the most-loved dishes at your Thanksgiving dinner. Smokey maple roasted carrots with lemon thyme drizzle If you are looking for an easy side dish that you can throw together, try this recipe from Veggies Don’t Bite . Not only is this carrot dish loaded with flavor, but the lemon thyme sauce will make you want to lick your plate clean. Related: The best in-season veggies to buy at your local market for Thanksgiving dinner Vegan green bean casserole This casserole is so creamy that you won’t believe it doesn’t contain dairy. Using raw cashews, unsweetened almond milk, bread crumbs, onions, garlic, flour, EVOO, mushrooms, white wine, soy sauce, salt and black pepper, this dish from Hummusapien will be so good, no one will know its vegan. Desserts Vegan pecan pie This recipe from the Center for Nutrition Studies is a healthy, vegan alternative to the popular holiday dessert . It is decadent, but not too sweet, and it is gluten-free and soy-free. Chocolate ganache mousse pie If you want to add a chocolate dessert to your menu, here is a delicious option that has a cookie crust and light filling that will make any chocolate lover happy. Images via Pixabay and Shutterstock

Comments Off on Look out, meat industry – flexitarianism is on the rise

With all of the meatless options on the market, it’s not surprising that flexitarianism is on the rise. Unlike vegetarians , who completely exclude meat from their diet, flexitarians simply cut down on how much meat they eat on a weekly basis. This raises an important question: What are the benefits of eating less meat? Related: Vegetarian diets could help avert one-third of early deaths, new research finds Research has found a correlation between eating less meat and losing weight. Flexitarian diets can also help prevent certain health issues like high blood pressure and diabetes. Given these health benefits , adopting a flexitarian diet can be beneficial, especially if you’re concerned with gaining weight or have a history of diabetes and high blood pressure in your family. Flexitarianism is also easier to get into than vegetarianism. Cutting meat out of a few meals a week is much more doable than eliminating meat altogether. Although some vegetarians have a negative attitude towards flexitarianism – which they view as cheating – it is on the rise around the world. In fact, the amount of vegetarian products available in supermarkets has doubled since 2009, and that trend is not slowing down. Last year, the vegetarian industry sold over $3 billion worth of products, an eight percent increase from the previous year. Not everyone in the United States is convinced, however. While flexitarianism has many health benefits, the majority of people around the country believe meals should include meat in some capacity. People under 50 years of age are also more likely to follow a flexitarian or vegetarian diet, as are individuals who make $30,000 a year or less. People older than 50 and those who earn over $70,000 are not likely to follow a meat-less diet. Lastly, conservatives are less likely to adopt a meat-free diet or cut down on meat consumption than are liberals. Despite these challenges, flexitarianism is on the rise and we can only hope that that trend continues into the future. Via The Washington Post

Comments Off on 5 (mostly) free and easy ways to green your Fourth of July

Independence Day is here — are you ready? If you want to celebrate your Fourth the green way by freeing yourself from the shackles of unnecessary waste and energy usage but are low on funds and ideas, check out our five creative tips on how to green your holiday — they’re as easy on your wallet as they are hassle-free! Substitute veggie dogs and burgers for hot dogs and hamburgers Raising livestock uses an incredible amount of energy and releases tons of methane into the air. This year, try serving soy dogs and burgers instead of meat — they’re better for the environment and for your health. And a lot of times, people can’t even tell the difference! Cost: $3-4 a box on average Ask guests to carpool or walk With people trying to save money, this one shouldn’t be too difficult at all. Plus, if you remind imbibers that the less cars there are, the less (responsible) drivers are needed, they’ll have yet another reason to carpool or walk. Cost: nothing Have a “Bring Your Own Cup” party Plastic cups are one of the most wasteful parts of having a summer bash. Asking guests to bring their own cups means that no one will forget which cup is theirs, and you won’t need to clean up after them because they just take their dirty drinkware home with them! Cost: nothing Ask caterers to make it “Eco to go” If you’re planning on ordering out for your party, use this simple phrase to tell restaurants that you would like minimal packaging, condiments and utensils. They might not know what you mean at first, but the more people use it, the more vendors will know what it means and that they should get with the program. Buy your charcoal from sustainably managed forests Not all charcoal is created equal. Check for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo on the bag you buy to make sure it isn’t from an unsustainable source. And if you can use charcoal from the U.S. instead of from abroad, that’s even better! Cost: Surprisingly, FSC-certified and U.S.-sourced charcoal isn’t too much more expensive than the alternative. Have a great, green Fourth of July everyone! Images via Port of San Diego , Depositphotos , David Goehring , Didriks , Michael Mandiberg , and Julian Colton

Comments Off on Vegetarian diets could help avert one-third of early deaths, new research finds

Vegetarians, rejoice! While scientists have long touted the health benefits of plant-based diets , they may be even more effective than we thought. According to new calculations from Harvard University scientists, one-third of early deaths might be avoided if people switched to a vegetarian diet. The scientists’ research suggests that we have underestimated the positive effects of a vegetarian diet. For example, while figures from the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics suggested that 141,000 deaths a year in Britain were preventable, the new research from Harvard has produced a much higher figure: about 200,000 lives could potentially be saved each year if people removed meat from their diets . Related: Here’s what could happen if America went 100% vegan Harvard Medical School epidemiology and nutrition professor Walter Willett, a speaker at the Unite to Cure Fourth International Vatican Conference , said, “We have just been doing some calculations looking at the question of how much could we reduce mortality shifting towards a healthy, more plant based diet, not necessarily totally vegan , and our estimates are about one third of early deaths could be prevented. That’s not even talking about physical activity or not smoking, and that’s all deaths, not just cancer deaths. That’s probably an underestimate as well as that doesn’t take into account the fact that obesity is important and we control for obesity.” Committee for Responsible Medicine president Neal Barnard, another speaker at the conference, agreed that people should be more aware of the health benefits of vegetarian and vegan diets. He said, “I think we’re underestimating the effect. I think people imagine that a healthy diet has only a modest effect and a vegetarian diet might help you lose a little bit of weight. But when these diets are properly constructed I think they are enormously powerful.” Via The Telegraph Images via Lefteris kallergis on Unsplash and James Sutton on Unsplash

Comments Off on Studio Gangs 40 Tenth Avenue "Solar Carve" tower tops out near NYCs High Line

New images reveal 40 Tenth Avenue — formerly called the Solar Carve Tower — has officially topped out near New York City ‘s 1.45-mile-long High Line park. Designed by Studio Gang , 40 Tenth Avenue features a chiseled shape that works with the sun’s light angles to avoid casting unwanted shadows on its surroundings. With an abundance of outdoor space and large glass windows, this commercial building is designed to nurture the relationship between the building’s occupants and the natural world. The 10-story, LEED Gold -targeting 40 Tenth Avenue building topped out earlier this month in the Meatpacking District . Developed by Aurora Capital , the commercial tower draws on Studio Gang’s solar carving strategy: sculpting the building with the sun’s angles in mind to avoid casting shadows on the street or the High Line. Related: New renderings of Studio Gang’s Solar Carve building reveal a faceted jewel that hugs the High Line Studio Gang said, “The tower takes its form from the geometric relationships between the building’s allowable envelope and the sun’s path.” The designers kept efficiency in mind when choosing building materials and methods, and they worked with an Italy-based manufacturer to create custom curtain wall units to “efficiently and seamlessly maintain the mass of the glass carve.” High-performance glass with low reflectivity also minimizes the building’s impact on the surrounding environment . High ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows — affording panoramic views for those working inside — allow natural light to reach every work space in the tower. Studio Gang said, “Large, diamond-shaped panels tilt downward to dramatically capture direct overhead light for corner work spaces.” 40 Tenth Avenue boasts more than 20,000 square feet of outdoor space, including a 10,000-square-foot shared roof deck, private outdoor spaces for eight floors and an 8,000-square-foot outside area on the second floor right next to the High Line. The building is slated for completion in March 2019. + 40 Tenth Avenue + Studio Gang Images courtesy of Max Touhey and Studio Gang

Comments Off on 20% of US population produces 46% of food-based emissions

A monumental new study demonstrates that one-fifth of the American population is responsible for nearly half of all food-based emissions. Popsci reports that people who eat a lot of animal protein, especially beef, account for a larger share of greenhouse gas emissions — although, author Sara Chodosh also illustrates the extreme complexity behind the study’s potentially groundbreaking conclusions. Read on for a closer look. Published in Environmental Research Letters specifically sought to understand how diet and associated emissions varies among the American population. Martin Heller, an engineer at the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems and study contributor, told Popsci it was surprising to realize just how varied they are. “I don’t think any of us really had a strong sense of how distributed the greenhouse gas emissions would be,” he says. “That was perhaps the most striking result.” Getting to the meat of the matter (sorry, I couldn’t resist) involved consulting several different databases and picking apart the life-cycle analysis of every morsel. Chodosh writes : “The NHANES survey results can tell you what a broad spectrum of American plates look like on any given day, but tells you nothing about the environmental impact of those foods. To do that, you have to go to the Food Commodities Intake Database, run by the EPA, and figure out how much meat might be in that meat lasagna, or how many tomatoes are in a generic salad. From there, you have to link the quantities of each type of food to the emissions associated with producing it.” Related: Garlic may be the key to slashing methane emissions from cows When evaluating the emissions of a single tomato, it was necessary to know how much fertilizer was used in its production, and then how much fuel was used to transport that tomato. With poultry, the researchers had to also consider feed production, and when analyzing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with eating beef, they had to calculate the amount of methane released by cow burps. I urge you to head over to Popsci to read the full details , because this short synthesis doesn’t do their reporting justice, but here’s the bottom line that we found so interesting: What next? Now that we know one-fifth of the American population is producing nearly half of food-based emissions — which in their turn are helping to melt glaciers and unleash devastating wildfires, not to mention the numerous adverse health hazards attributed to climate change — what do we do with that information? Heller tells Popsci, “Clearly we’ve not been very good at encouraging people to shift their diets for their own health. Relative to what our recommended healthy diet is, Americans do pretty poorly,” he says, “But I’ve started to try to think about it as the secondhand smoke of diet choice.” Fascinating. If you understood that your dietary choices directly hurt your neighbor, would you make a switch? + Environmental Research Letters Via Popsci Images via DepositPhotos 1 , 2

Comments Off on ‘World’s smallest computer’ could be manufactured for under 10 cents

Need a computer that’s smaller than a single grain of salt ? IBM has got you covered. Mashable reported the company unveiled what they’re calling the world’s smallest computer, that, according to IBM , “packs several hundred thousand transistors into a footprint barely visible to the human eye.” The world’s smallest computer is one-by-one millimeter in size, according to The Verge . IBM says it can have as many as one million transistors and will cost under 10 cents to create. Features include an LED communications unit and photo-detector, static random-access memory (SRAM), and an integrated photovoltaic cell. The photo above is actually a set of 64 motherboards, according to The Verge, each of which contain two of the world’s smallest computers. Below is a solo computer on salt to give you an idea of its small size: Related: IBM creates first-ever artificial neurons that behave like the real thing The miniscule computer is among the IBM Research team’s 5 in 5 technology predictions, which they “believe will fundamentally reshape business and society in the next five years,” according to a blog post from IBM Research head Arvind Krishna. Krishna called the computer a cryptographic anchor, or crypto-anchor — defined in an IBM video as “tamper-proof digital-fingerprints” to be embedded into products to ensure authenticity and detect counterfeit items. The company is showing off their 5 in 5 at the IBM Think 2018 conference. Mashable said testing of the first prototype is still underway, so there’s no word yet on when exactly the world’s smallest computer will be available, although Krishna said cryptographic anchors “will be embedded in everyday objects and devices” in around five years. + Changing the Way the World Works: IBM Research’s “5 in 5” + IBM 5 in 5: Crypto-anchors and blockchain Via Mashable and The Verge Images via IBM and IBM

Comments Off on Britain’s first zero-waste store is packaging-free and only sells ethical goods

Next time you plan a trip to Devon, UK, be sure to visit the Earth.Food.Love grocery store. The unique supermarket sells up to 200 pesticide-free products which are ethically-sourced. The store is also completely packaging-free, which is great for the environment and people’s peace of mind. Earth.Food.Love was started by Richard Eckersley, 28, and his wife, Nicola, 27. The couple became infatuated with the idea of receiving one’s groceries packaging-free after visiting Unperfekthaus in German, an anti-waste outlet. “We walked in and immediately thought, why doesn’t this exist in the UK?” Richard told Metro . “We came back to the UK and decided to open our own sustainable store. We wanted to go somewhere that we felt would make a difference to the local community – that’s why we moved to Devon.” At Earth.Food.Love, one will find grains, pastas and even maple syrup. The supermarket also stocks regionally-grown oats, sanitary products, metal shavers that the blade can be swapped on and bamboo toothbrushes. Because the store seeks to deliver “ethical, wholesome and organic ” goods, milk and alcohol are nowhere to be found. Chips are banned, too, as they can have up to seven layers of packaging. While the lack of packaging might deter some customers, it is incredibly appealing to others. Reportedly, the “grind-your-own” nut butter machines are the most popular. “Filled with both almonds and peanuts, you can re-use your nut butter jar again and again and again, each time filling it with delicious, sticky goodness that’s been ground right in front of you,” said Richard. Shoppers are required to bring their own containers — which can range in type and shape — to the store. After the containers are weighed, shoppers pay for their purchases by the gram. For first-time customers, the store keeps compostable paper bags. Related: These amazing zero-waste buildings were grown from mushrooms Earth.Food.Love exists to educate consumers and increase access to ethically-sourced, healthy goods. The shop’s owners aren’t actually interested in making money. “It’s not about price for us. We don’t want to stock items just for the sake of it, it has to be ethical,” Richard said. “At the same time, we don’t want to compete with local farms – there are many around here that sell fresh produce already.” He added, “We’re adding products all of time, but the supplier has to be right for us. We want to live in a world where consuming doesn’t have to cost the earth. We believe returning to these simple ways will benefit not only our health, but the planets too.” The couple says the store has inspired many shoppers, which is why they created their very own guide to “Setting up your Own Zero-Waste Shop.” Richard and Nicola’s ultimate goal is to see similar businesses erected worldwide so the environment may be preserved while humanity is nourished. + Earth.Food.Love Via Metro Images via Earth.Food.Love, SWNS

Comments Off on Old coal crane in Denmark converted into swanky hanging retreat and spa

Although stress relief comes in many forms, soaking in a swanky sauna hanging over the water may just be the new trend in spa design . Danish firm Arcgency has converted a former coal crane into The Krane, a multi-tiered structure topped with a soothing spa retreat that overlooks Copenhagen’s industrial harbor. The Krane space was carved out of a former coal crane that has sat overlooking Nordhavn’s industrial port for years. The creative adaptive reuse project was a collaboration between owner Klaus Kastbjerg and architect Mads Møller from Arcgency, who wanted to convert the old crane into a useful space for the city. Related: World’s first ‘cranehouse’ hoisted over Bristol harbor is completely carbon neutral The first floor of the crane was converted into a glass-enclosed meeting space called the Glass Box. A calming spa and wraparound terrace are on located on the second floor, and on the top floor, guests can enjoy a calming lounge space and additional terrace that looks out over the water. Paying homage to the crane’s industrial history, the structure was clad entirely in a stark black, on the interior as well as the exterior. The monochromatic color scheme was used to reduce distractions, intentionally putting the sole focus on the beautiful 360-degree views of the harbor. The space was decorated with minimal furnishings made out of leather, wood, stone and steel – most of which were custom built so they could disappear into wall panels. Local artists were commissioned to create various pieces, which are also subtly embedded into the walls. Møller explains that the monochromatic color scheme was inspired by the crane’s new use as a soothing getaway , “It’s all part of the vision, where the focus has been the integration of sensations—sight, sound and stemning (the Danish word for atmosphere). The Krane involved a 360-degree inside-outside approach. Natural light directly affects how we feel in a space and our happiness overall. So we optimized the inside to capture natural daylight and set the stage for the views of the water outside.” + The Krane + Arcgency Via Dwell